Gotta love modern home quality!

[Mike Vermeil]

To follow up on that thread from a couple weeks ago discussing the cost & quality of trim carpentry these days....

Every (explative deleted for the young) door in my three year old house squeaks no matter how much WD40 or grease I put on the hinge pins, to the point I finally pulled out one hinge pin from a few doors to shut ‘em up. On one of those doors, the hinge halves sprang out of alignment over a 1/16”! Well on my daughter’s room I pulled down all the wimpy trim to replace it with better stuff & found out what’s going on. The trim carpenter installed the pre-hung doors with NO shims at all. He just shot the hinge side jamb right up against the trim stud, pulling the jamb into whatever shape the stud was in. Then on the knob side he just shot about a million 18 ga brads through the jamb, apparently holding it away from the trim stud to keep the gap even along the door edge. Classic.

Doesn't anyone take pride in what they do anymore? I won't even go into how many ground wires I've found never connected at switches and outlets of customer's homes since I moved out here. I guess that's what you get on tract homes these days - especially in one of the hottest home markets in the country.

[Don Baer]

Geez Mike, your scaring me. I will be relocating to the Phoenix area soon and am in the process of working with a builder on a new home.(Not yet built). I guess I'd better plan on camping out there during the construction.

Who was the Builder ?

[Steve Jenkins]

I've seen lots of interior doors that weren't atached to the studs at all. they were prehung and just stood in place then the trim nailed on and that's what held them in.

[Mike Vermeil]

Geez Mike, your scaring me. I will be relocating to the Phoenix area soon and am in the process of working with a builder on a new home.(Not yet built). I guess I'd better plan on camping out there during the construction.

Who was the Builder ?

Don,

I better not say who built my house to avoid inflaming anyone on here who may work for that company. In general, the house isn't too bad, just a few lame things like I mentioned.

The reality of the new home market in PHX is that there simply isn't enough skilled labor to go around. As you know, you can't spit out here without hitting a new home under construction! While some of the builders have chosen to slow down to ensure decent quality, others haven't at all. My recomendation would be to perform frequent, unannounced personal inspections during construction. The more things that get covered up without you seeing them first, the higher proabability of problems later.

What builder are you using?

Mike

[Don Baer]

Don,

My recomendation would be to perform frequent, unannounced personal inspections during construction. The more things that get covered up without you seeing them first, the higher proabability of problems later.

Mike

I plan on that. I did with my present home and already had that in mind.

I am looking at Providence homes. He is a smaller builder and is getting ready to start some semi custom homes out in Queen Creek area.

[George Bledsoe]

I know when I built my house I hired guys that I knew did quailty work that I looked at before I hired them. It cost me more up front but it has paid off in the long run. It is one of those times that it really pays to do the research. I guess what irks me sometimes is that doing it wrong really doesn't save that much more time in the long run, sometimes it is even more work......

[Michael Ballent]

I do not think that there are any well built homes currently in the Valley. Seems like most are just slapped together so the crew can just move on to the next house. We recently replaced our counters with granite and the former counters were not even screwed to the cabinets, just tiny filler strips and construction adhesive.

My parents' patio was laid so that water pooled toward the house, and many other interesting treats.

[markgoodall]

It's gotten to the point where I can't even LOOk at a builder without getting mad. They've put themselves down to the bottom of my respect ladder, right next to cars salesman.

Ohhh, the stories I can tell you.

I've got stories about friends, but I'll limit my stories to those that affected me.

I discovered why my roof leaks. *&*$&$*$&%&#@*% roofers ran out of tar paper, so they put shingles directly on the sheathing on half my house.
What do you do if you need a 96" piece of flashing and only have 92"? You cut it in half and leave the gap in the MIDDLE, so it appears you have flashing at either end. Funny how water can find it's way to that 4" gap that's hidden from view.

Every time I change a light fixture, i have to replace the metal box in the ceiling. Sometimes even the wire. Cause they installed old boxed with all the hole tabs removed. Or, cause they never clamped the wire down so overtime it's rubbed on the sharp edges enought to cut down to the copper. White wire cut and touching the metal box. Luckily not the black one. Didn't have to worry about the neutral connected to the ground, mind you. Yes, the white white was now touching the ceiling box, but the ground wire was nowhere to be seen. They stripped it back 12" and left it in the ceiling.

Did I mention I hate these #$@#%$ builders?

Oh, I could go on and on........ but I'll take a breath and compose myself.

[Don Baer]

My parents' patio was laid so that water pooled toward the house, and many other interesting treats.

and after re-reading Mark Singers thread on checking framing

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=22429

and reading what happened above I guess it's a good Idea to keep a carpenters level in the truck when making inspections.

[Dan Larson]

Mike, I feel your pain. The situation isn't much better here in Milwaukee. When we relocated here last year and were in the market for a house, we were disappointed by the universally mediocre workmanship and design sensibility of the newer houses on the market. I find it hard to imagine that many of these houses will still be standing in 50-75 years. Seems like a very wasteful use of precious natural resources.

Dan

[Phil Phelps]

I've seen lots of interior doors that weren't atached to the studs at all. they were prehung and just stood in place then the trim nailed on and that's what held them in.

.... that makes better sense than nailing it against a twisted jamb

[Dale Rodabaugh]

It isnt only in the constuction industry,its everywhere.good workmanship and service is getting mighty scarce.People just wanna get the job done ASAP and move on to the next one.get their money and run.Take your car to most dealerships and see what kind of service you get.Once in a while you hit it lucky.Aint like it used to be.

[Mike Vermeil]

I am looking at Providence homes. He is a smaller builder and is getting ready to start some semi custom homes out in Queen Creek area.

Don,

I'm about a 1/4 mile from the Queen Creek border in Gilbert - at the corners of Power & QC. Good luck with the house. See you around!

[Don Baer]

Mike;
I'll be in the area on business next week. I'll send you a PM and maybe we can get together for a coke or some other beverage..

[Cecil Arnold]

The last two houses didn't have plumb doors. The previous one was bought new and when I pointed out that the doors were out of plumb and tended to swing to a half closed position on the walk through the const. super told me how they fixed it. "You take a hammer and hit the pin laying on concret, then put it back." In their favor, they did come back two years later and replace a wood floor that had neen installed wrong. You can still find an ocasional good house in the rural areas, but who can make a living there?